Translation - EnglishSurfrider Foundation Europe’s Action Programmes
Protecting the Coastline
The Surfrider Foundation association is officially approved for environmental protection.
Laboratories : Surfrider Foundation Europe owns several laboratories (in Marseille, San Sebastian and Toulouse) where it carries out water quality tests on samples taken from areas of water sport activity throughout the year. The need for year-round water quality surveillance in water sport areas is one of the issues the association campaigns for.

Maritime Transport : Surfrider Foundation Europe has launched an ambitious 3-year legal research project in partnership with a university and the actors involved on the ground. We hope to better identify the people responsible for maritime pollution and set the application of the polluter-pays principle. This programme aims to determine the means (conventions, measures,..) set up by Member States to fight against marine pollution. Furthermore we make use of all legal tools existing at local, international and European levels to defend victims and expose environmental damage (through legal action, national and European lobbying).

Lobbying: The organisation aims to influence public sector decision-makers and institutions during rule, law-making and standard setting processes in order to achieve its goals of marine protection and development. For example, Surfrider launched a petition for the recognition of marine litter as pollution (2008-2009).

Bathing water simulation: This study aims to warn institutions at every territorial level of governance of the impact of the new European regulation on bathing water management. The study consists in simulating what bathing water classifications would be today under the 2006 Directive. The end goal is to contribute to a constructive territorial dialogue over this issue and hasten the implementation of measures that ensure beaches comply with the new standards in 2015.

Keepers of the Coast : This initiative is based on volunteer (citizens, associations, groups, etc.) reports of local pollution incidents, new developments, or other problems observed which have an impact on the coastline. This information supplies our surveillance network. We then contribute our scientific, media, and in some cases, legal know-how, providing local support to users who are committed to preserving the natural coastal heritage.

Translation - EnglishThey are not going to answer to the provocation. The orders are to keep quiet, stay on the sidelines and let the ruling Socialist Government (PSOE) be the one to get caught up in yet another fight with the Catholic Church. If anyone asks the leaders of the Conservative Party (Partido Popular, PP) for the bishops’ document offering voters religious guidance on the elections, they’ll quietly be told it wasn’t considered necessary for the campaign, that Spanish Catholics who support the Church know exactly who to vote for, and above all, who not to vote for, and that strategically the document didn’t come as a favour. But in public, the conservatives are going to stand to the side. Mariano Rajoy, the conservative leader, dismissed his party’s alleged partnership with the Church in a comment yesterday: Zapatero is picking a fight with everyone in order to avoid the current economic issue. The fact is that the opposition doesn’t need to take shelter in the Church: those votes are already secure. The Right are well aware that their opponent’s strategy lies in trying to associate them with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in order to trigger the Left’s anticlerical sentiments, another bitter aftertaste from the Franco period.

The Government is clumsily clutching at straws. The bishop’s suggestion not to vote for a party which defends abortion and legalises gay marriage can’t come as shock to anyone. But if there’s one thing which characterises Spanish Catholicism it’s the capacity of its followers to think for themselves, even with respect to the Church’s own precepts. Believers still have their free will, which is why the PSOE’s act of victimisation is hard to swallow. Through it the socialists hope to create a dispute, weighted in their favour and which portrays the opposition as a force kidnapped by Catholic fundamentalism. They want to take advantage of the bishops’ reference to their negotiation with ETA terrorists at the Episcopal conference to declare extra-time and ask for a penalty shoot-out. However, everyone knows that, firstly the negotiation took place, and secondly that what the bishops say will go no further than the four walls of the Church. It is a sterile debate which could end up backfiring, since even for the most sensible and level-headed electorate, the idea of a sectarian government at arms with the Church is worrying.

3 years professional translation experienceMaster in Translation from the University of ExeterBachelor of Science in Psychology and Cognitive ScienceLinguistic Background: I am from a French household, but almost all my education was carried out in English schools abroad or in Britain. A large part of my childhood was spent in Venezuela, where I learnt Spanish. I also spent 2 years living and working in Spain as a teacher of English as a second language after university. I am therefore fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Professional Experience: I have been working as a freelance translator for the last 2 years, carrying out regular translation work for leading translation agencies including SDL International. I have also translated for several NGO's, including Medecins sans Frontieres and Blue Ventures Marine Conservation. In 2010 I spent a year working as an Interpreter for Multilingua Agency, in Exeter. During my Masters in Translation, I acquired in-depth knowledge about translation theory and the translation profession, including the use of CAT tools like SDL Trados. I also gained substantial practical experience in translation, which I am currently building on in a freelance capacity. So far, my translation work includes a wide range of materials from public health reports to bicycle manuals.

I specialize in the fields of psychology, environmental science and tourism.

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